This blows, because Bryan Singer is not only one of the more successful out directors in Hollywood — and these kind of allegations are bound to validate a lot of Fox News opinions — but because, if true, they could open up a door into the kinds of industry activities many of us like to think only exist in the movies, and — more importantly — suggests more than one victim.

Michael Egan has sued Bryan Singer — director of X-Men, Days of Future Past, and Return of Superman, among others — alleging that the director drugged and forcibly sodomized him in 1999 when Egan was 17. The lawsuit also claims that the incident is just one of many that involves big Hollywood parties, drugs, alcohol, and teenage boys that were lured to these parties by Marc Collins-Rector, who pleaded guilty in 2004 of this very kind of activity: Luring teenage boys across state lines for sexual acts (he’s now a registered sex offender).

Singer, whose X-Men: Days of Future Past opens soon, says through his attorney that the allegations are false and “without merit,” but Egan also provides very specific details of one incident:

Collins-Rector ordered Plaintiff out of the pool, and Defendant Singer hugged Plaintiff and grabbed his bare buttocks. They then went to the jacuzzi where Collins-Rector had Plaintiff sit on his lap and fondled Plaintiff’s genitals. Collins-Rector then passed Plaintiff to Defendant Singer and Plaintiff was made to sit on Defendant Singer’s lap. Defendant Singer provided an alcoholic beverage to Plaintiff and mentioned finding a role for him in an upcoming movie that he was directing. Defendant Singer told Plaintiff how “this group” controls Hollywood, and that he was sexy. Defendant Singer masturbated Plaintiff and then performed oral sex upon him. Defendant Singer solicited Plaintiff to perform oral sex upon him which Plaintiff resisted. Defendant Singer flagrantly disregarded Plaintiff’s unwillingness to submit, and forced Plaintiff’s head underwater to make Plaintiff perform oral sex upon him. When Plaintiff pulled his head out of the water in order to breathe, Defendant Singer demanded that he continue which Plaintiff refused. Defendant Singer then forced Plaintiff to continue performing oral sex upon him outside of the pool, and subsequently forcibly sodomized Plaintiff.

Egan claims that he was forced to inhale cocaine and pressured into oral and anal sex on other occasions, as well.

The lawyer bringing the allegations against Singer, Jeff Herman, is the same who represented the plaintiffs who brought suit against the former voice of Elmo, Kevin Clash, suits that ultimately led to several settlements. The lawyer also suggests that this may be the first of many lawsuits he brings designed to blow the door open on these illicit Hollywood parties.

“Hollywood has a problem with the sexual exploitation of children,” Herman said in a statement. “This is the first of many cases I will be filing to give these victims a voice and to expose the issue.”

The suit claims that Egan was 14 or 15 when he moved to Los Angeles with his family to pursue and acting career. A friend from a small private school in the San Fernando Valley, Scott Shackley, introduced him to his older brother, Chad, in 1998. Chad Shackley, according to the suit, lived in the M & C Estate in Encino with Collins-Rector, and Egan and Scott Shackley would visit. Eventually, Egan was placed on the DEN payroll, provided with extravagant gifts, and taken via private jet on various trips, along with the opportunity to audition for acting and modeling jobs, the suit states.

But the parties at the M&C Estate were “well known and notorious” among “many men in the Hollywood entertainment industry,” the suit states, as they were “typically sordid and featured sexual contact between adult males and the many teenage boys who were present,” along with the distribution of alcohol and drugs.

Over the next few days, this all will go away quietly very soon, and get really ugly very quickly.

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Comments Are Welcome, Bigots and Trolls Are Not

Ben

Man I never know how to feel about this shit.I mean on the one hand if he did it then mother fucker deserves to burn. No questions asked.

But if he didn't do it, then the allegations are still always going to be there.And like, he's super rich and famous so if it comes out that he didn't do it then people are just going to assume that it's cause he paid people off, but even if he didn't actually do it people are going to assume that, and if he did do it then he totally could just pay people off.

So like, obviously if he's guilty he's a scumbag, but if he's not guilty he doesn't deserve to have his life ruined for nothing.

So I honestly have no idea how to feel or react to the situation.

Ricky, Bubbles & Julian

No idea if the allegations are true or false but this piqued my interest:

"Egan claims that he was forced to inhale cocaine and pressured into oral and anal sex on other occasions, as well"

If this happened once, why are you getting into these situations again and again? Wouldn't you steer clear of these guys after round one?

profession: none, or starlet

Oh yay, more victim-blaming theorising. "Well, if it was rape, why did he/she go back?"

Lots and lots of good reasons. Maybe you feel complicit, dirty, ashamed, like you deserved it, like you have to, like the person has threatened terrible consequences if you don't play along. And according to Egan's suit, Singer pulled the last one totally unambiguously.,

Thank god you're here to direct our focus to the important part of the story.

Guest

Happy to help, considering the Pajiba staff don't seem altogether too concerned with fact-checking. You guys are in such a rush to get things out there first that time and again articles get posted with all kinds of errors. It's embarrassing.

This is the third time I'm posting this comment because every time I come back, I notice it gets deleted. Is the Pajibia staff now censoring criticism of their lack of proofreading skills? Is that what you guys constitute as being a "jerk?"

005

Happy to help, particularly considering the fact that the Pajiba staff doesn't seem altogether too concerned with fact-checking, especially in a news item such as this.

Besides, as a minor correction I don't see how it warrants the sarcasm from you. If the staff were better about proofreading their work before releasing it to the web, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Time and again though, I read articles here where simple grammar, spelling and typographical errors are left uncorrected, likely in the name of "getting it out there first" and it's embarrassing. Don't want to be called out on it? Check your work.

Guest

Happy to help, since clearly fact-checking is not something the Pajiba staff seems to find all that important, particularly when discussing a case such as this.

the dude

Just before X- Men drops? I don't know, if you've waited 15 years why not wait a little less or a little longer? May be true, but famous people have the weakness of being famous, and others exploit it, always.

ERM 275

The timing is because the statute of limitations expires in a week.

lonolove

I'm surprised more accusations like this haven't been brought forward because it does seem like everyone knows these types of parties exist and have done so for many decades (there are tell-all books from the Golden Age of Hollywood Studios, references in seemingly unrelated literature like "The Godfather"...). Why haven't more people spoken out about their experiences at these orgies? Especially in this day and age of paparazzi and zero privacy, I just don't know how it is a secret. It does kind of speak to a disturbing complicity that would involve TOO many people.

Sara_Tonin00

To me, it's possible - the stigma of being gay is less now than it was - it's not a career/life-wrecker. Which means that whatever scandal comes out has a better chance of focusing on wrong deeds rather than sexuality. Especially if a lot of the underaged/young men involved were those trying to climb in Hollywood or modeling.

Hello, Scream 3 anyone? If that masterpiece couldn't blow the doors off the illicit Hollywood sex scene and its propensity to spawn - among other things - an overly elaborate murder spree than nothing can.

BlackRabbit

Yeah, these kinds of "conspiracies" seem outlandish. One or two guys and some kids? Yes, I'll buy that. But whole groups of famous people and NO ONE tattles or speaks up? Regular sex orgies I can understand but not condone, but not "kiddie parties", since there would be just too much risk of exposure. I'm not saying this kid's lying, but it may not have been as large a group as he remembers.

On the other hand, maybe Singer's trying to bring back NAMBLA. And you know some FauxNews jackass is gonna bring out the "gay/pedophile" bullshit because of this story.

manting

17 is a consenting adult in every state in the United States. While having sex with a 17 year old may be unsavory its certainly not illegal. Raping anyone, no matter there age, is obviously illegal. Im confused on how you force someone to snort cocaine.

Long_Pig_Tailor

Um, no, it's not. In California, it's 18. So, you know, even if it didn't have a whole mess of other elements that make it sound like rape, the simple fact of the ages of the parties involved make it rape.

If Singer does escape this without jail time, I wonder if he will face the same scorn as Polanski and Woody Allen.

manting

I don't understand. Woody Allen married his girlfriend/wifes adopted 17 year old daughter when he was 52. Polanski raped a 13 year old girl and fled the country. If Singer is found not guilty he shouldn't face any scorn, at least not like the aforementioned douchebags.

Perhaps this case is closer to what happened to Michael Jackson. Singer isn't facing criminal charges, this is a civil matter, which will likely be settled out of court with confidentiality agreements all around. When this case is resolved, the allegations are still out there. I think it's valid to wonder if Singer and those who make movies with him are going to be castigated or will people overlook his alleged proclivities because he makes movies people like. There have been several performers who have been ripped for vocally supporting Allen and Polanski as artists. It's going to be interesting what the reaction will be when/if somebody like Hugh Jackman or Michael Fassbender support Singer as a director in the aftermath of these allegations.

manting

Jackson was accused like 12 times. In at least one case the kid correctly described Jackson's genitalia. I think it was the same case where they discovered that Jackson had pressure alarms installed in the hallway to his bedroom that would warn him when people were approaching his bedroom. He also admitted on numerous occasions to sleeping with the children, just not the sex stuff. I don't know whether or not to believe the victim in this case, I do find the timing very suspicious and the choice of attorney.

Sirilicious

There is an age difference in the victims, that does matter a lot to me. I HATE to get into a victim-olympics, who's hurt the most, but here it sounds more like a fucked up power abuse. A bit like Terry Richardson. He should maybe not go to jail, but everyone should stop giving him money. And we should all spit on him. If this is true.

While Romanski and Allen definitely deserve jail.

Dumily

I'd be cool with both Richardson and (if it's true) Singer going to jail. I would also want to dramatically reform jails so they focus on rehabilitation instead of just punishment, but you know, one thing at a time.

Sara_Tonin00

also if they reformed jails so that rape culture wasn't a crucial part of the "punishment" aspect.

Dumily

I agree, although I can tell you now, that's going to put hundreds of hack "comedy" writers out of business. Where, oh where, will the comedians at the Chuckle Hut find their jokes if "don't drop the soap" is no longer on the table?

Sirilicious

I'd love for them to go to jail. But i'm not sure if they are being illegal. Mostly being complete warts on the butt of assmaggots.

Dumily

I sort of, but only sort of, agree. Supposing that the accusations are true, this would fall into the "grey rape" area. (I hate that term by the way, but people feel the need to differentiate between violent rapes where force and/or weapons are involved instead of this case where it was only emotional manipulation, coercion, bribery, etc that led to the unwanted sexual acts.) But if you're the type of person who feels justified in using your authority or power over a person in order to get them to have sex with you, you're a bad person. Hell, if you're the type of person who can get a boner with a partner who is anything less than demonstrably enthusiastic, you're a bad person. If you can look at a person who is clearly afraid, uncomfortable, and not enjoying a sexual act and continue a sexual act with them, you are a bad person. So maybe you didn't mean to rape someone, but you're clearly a danger to society at large because you raped somebody. I'm not sure if they should be sent to the hell we currently have as prisons, but they definitely need some inpatient, away from other people, rehabilitating programs on human social cues and how to interact with people so you don't accidentally rape them.

Long_Pig_Tailor

At a minimum, they'd fall into the statutory rape category; age of consent is 18 in California. The rest of the (absolutely definitely) rape-y elements described are completely unnecessary to show that, if this happened, Singer is a rapist.

sanity fair

Forcing someone to perform oral and anal sex is illegal. If Singer did this, he's a criminal.

Sirilicious

Agreed.

Blake Shrapnel

Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown...

denesteak

Holy shit!!! Fuck!

Davis

If you look on the internet which is probably bullshit, there big rumors of Singer loving 18 year old boys.

Are we sure this isn't an elaborate scheme hatched by Brett Ratner aimed at discrediting Singer so Fox will turn the X-Men franchise back over to him? Pay attention next time he eats Five Guys off a hooker's ass. If he straightens out his walk when he's done, call the cops.

I'm already seeing the "Not saying it's not true, but why is it taking 15 years.." comments. How long is it going to take before people understand that these events almost always result in shame, confusion and extended agony? Just because the victim didn't run to the police immediately does not invalidate the claim.

Pitry

This is very true... however in this case it looks like it DIDN'T actually take 15 years.

Of course, the Mike E. in that piece isn't necessarily Michael Egan from the current lawsuit, but that would be a mighty coincidence. It's the same story in 2007 and now and Bryan Singer is mentioned there... fleetingly. A more likely scenario is that the really well-connected, powerful Hollywood guys managed to get out of this the first time round thanks to their influence and connections while the ones who were relatively outsiders didn't get the same protection.

The timing is a legitimate issue, IMO. Can't imagine it's a coincidence that this allegation drops a month before X-Men -- one of the biggest movies of the year -- opens. Certainly doesn't rule out any of this being true -- and coming forward years after an attack isn't uncommon -- but I understand why people are at least mentioning the timeline.

manting

It seems to me like this attorney is attempting to get a quick and dirty settlement from Singer or the studios insurer. If these events were true then why weren't criminal charges filed rather than civil? Why weren't they filed 15 years ago?

Dumily

Well from my understanding, 17 year olds, especially 17 year olds who have non- traditional sexual identities, have all of their shit completely together so it couldn't possible have taken years of therapy and soul searching to look back on those actions years later and only then understand the true horror of the situation. From what I've read on sexual assault victims, the only real way to know if they're telling the truth is to make sure they immediately reported it to the police who as we all know are impeccable in their handling of said victims.

manting

Thanks Nancy Grace. You do realize that a civil case only means money right? Its what people usually do AFTER a criminal case has failed. Also way to insult gay people. According to you if you are 17 and gay you don't know what rape is.

Dumily

Dude, spare me the sanctimonious, faux offended bullshit, alright? And don't put words in my mouth. What I said was most 17 year olds don't have their shit together. You asked why charges weren't brought 15 years ago, stating that you believed it was because the lawyer wanted a settlement with the implication being the plaintiff is lying. The lack of timely reporting doesn't reflect that at all. It can take years for rape victims to process what happened to them and properly identify it as a rape especially when the rape doesn't fit what the general public imagines as the only credible rape scenario ie a strange man held you down and forced himself on you. When the rape is a result of coercion victims rarely identify it as a rape shortly after it happens. They often feel complicit in their assault, and are ashamed to acknowledge that they were taken advantage of in this way. Given how poorly police and the courts handle rape cases, it's actually more surprising that anyone comes forward. The 15 year wait only indicates that we have a shitty system for dealing with sexual assaults.

PDamian

Consider yourself upvoted a million times. I'd do it if I could.

profession: none, or starlet

Seconded.

Dumily

Hey thanks, guys.

ERM 275

I think my reply to you got deleted. Sorry if I post this twice, but it isn't showing up when I view the comments...

The attorney has explained the timing: "Attorney Jeff Herman chose Hawaii to file the suit because the legislature there opened a window for two years allowing old sex abuse cases to be filed. The provision expires next week, Herman said."

In most states, the statute of limitations would have expired a few years after he turned 18.

A month before the opening of a huge summer blockbuster is a great time for a shakedown, but not great timing for a prolonged court case. Now that the accusations have been levied, the plaintiff has no leverage.

NateMan

Yep. Whether true or not everyone will get dragged through the mud for it. He waited until now because Singer was big in the industry again, he wants some of the X-Men money, etc. And who knows, it might be true. But I do hope we get to a place where survivors of sexual assault are treated with the same presumption of honesty that the victims of other crimes are.

BlackRabbit

Exactly. Trust, but verify.

Itmustbebunnies

I've heard so many awful stories about him from people who've worked with him over the years (including tales of very young men on set with him) that I'm totally inclined to believe this is true. One person who worked with him closely and whose opinion I trust, called him Joffrey all grown up, so yeah, make of that what you will.

manting

One of my closest family friends growing up, who is also gay, was his assistant for nearly 10 years. Never heard anything like this from him.

Dumily

I'm trying to say this in a way that doesn't piss people off before I'm able to make my whole point, so let me just try it this way: rapists are terrible people, but rapists do things other than rape people. We all feel totally comfortable saying that rapists are awful. But we have a pretty big disconnect about the fact that people we like can be awful. Woody Allen makes great art and is friends with a lot of people we like so he can't be awful. And if he can't be awful, he can't be a rapist because we know rapists are awful. The secret is that rapists can behave like decent human beings at times. Woody Allen might be a good friend and husband and also the molester of his daughter. Sandusky probably loved his mother, but he also raped a bunch of boys. The fact that Singer was not raping people around his assistant doesn't mean he wasn't raping them elsewhere.

manting

my point was about the parties not the raping. Obviously.

Dumily

Might I recommend only saying "obviously" when something is obvious? I don't see "parties" anywhere in either your or Itmustbebunnies' post.

Jezzer

Other obvious things you should have inferred from manting's post:

He prefers Swiss cheese to cheddar. Obviously.

He thinks Kool and the Gang are timeless and forever. Obviously.

He won't eat any kind of jam or preserves with seeds in it. Obviously.

Dumily

To be fair, everyone thinks Kool and the Gang are timeless and forever.

Awww, dammit. Caught between 'always believe the survivor' and 'Goddammit, I really like his work so I hope it's not true'. Leaning towards the former and hating the need for it.

Dumily

This comment is everything I love about Pajiba.

lowercase_ryan

Nateman usually abides.

NateMan

Thanks, guys. And it's why I come here. Because every other site - including the FB feeds of some authors I enjoy - are all strident defenses of Singer without any benefit of the doubt for Michael Egan. And I get it, y'know. The timing is suspect. People really like Singer. It's not easy to admit the possibility he did something so crappy.

But the automatic dismissal of anything someone who claims to have been assaulted pisses me right off. I need to remember not to engage. It's not part of my volunteer time and it's not going to do any good.